Originally Posted By: Susan
To tell the truth, I'm not going to get all excited about bacteria that eat antibiotics. As far as I can tell, this is a good thing.

Well, I guess it depends on your perspective. From a bioremediation standpoint, these little bugs could be very useful. As you point out, heaven knows we pump tons of antibiotics into livestock each year and it just ends up in the soil and water again.

But if you ever managed to get infected with one of these bugs, or it passed its genetic ability to digest antibiotics to another bug that can infect you, you're in for a long road of antibiotic-resistant suffering, assuming the infection doesn't kill you. Or I suppose the "cure" could kill you, too, if the doctors get desperate enough.